Many people collect objects such as books, compact disks (CDs), digital versatile disks (DVDs), wine, and a variety of other objects. Keeping track of the objects in a library or collection can be a difficult and time consuming task. One solution is manually keeping a list of the objects in a collection. For example, a user may add an entry to a list of objects when an object is acquired. This solution is flawed in that it requires the user to manually enter a record of an object into the list when an object is acquired. A user may forget to enter a record of an object, enter the data pertaining to the object incorrectly, or may otherwise lose the list. Another flaw with this technique is that it may not help the user locate a particular object when the object has been moved or removed from its usual storage place.
Another solution is the Delicious Library™ media cataloguing software application, developed by Delicious Monster, Seattle, Wash. The software allows users to manage their collections of books, movies, CDs, etc. by entering data pertaining to them manually or by using a barcode scanner. A user scans a barcode on an object. The object is identified by the barcode and a record entry for the object is made in a database.
This solution makes entry of objects into a library easier and less error prone than the manual solution described above, but has drawbacks. For example, the Delicious Library™ solution requires that the user scan each object using specialized equipment such as barcode scanner. In addition, the user has to scan existing objects in a collection in order to add them to the library. This may be problematic and time consuming for users with preexisting collections. Moreover, the information provided by the barcode scan may not provide the user with information to locate the object in their collection. For example, a user may have a large collection of books spanning multiple bookshelves on multiple floors of the user's house. The user may know that they have a particular book because of the record entry in the database. However, the entry may not indicate the book's location, making retrieval of the book difficult and time consuming for the user.